This article and the accompanying footage of Gianni Grippo vs Craig McDonald from Place of Peace Invitational 3 is part of Free Fight Friday, our ongoing project to bring the best in professional Jiu-Jitsu competition to everyone. To avoid spoilers for the match, scroll directly to the footage below.
Place of Peace have started getting into the promotional side of professional grappling earlier on this year and they have already managed to put together some fantastic events. For their third event, they managed to get multiple-time IBJJF No Gi World Championship winner Gianni Grippo to compete in a superfight. Grippo was booked to face a competitor who was already a Place of Peace Invitational veteran, Craig McDonald. McDonald was actually one of the first grapplers to step on the mats at one of their events as he competed at Place of Peace Invitational 1, where he faced another BJJ legend in the gi, Joao Miyao.
Gianni Grippo was constantly on the attack during his Craig McDonald and his relentless offense eventually led to him locking up a twister and securing the tap. It was a great performance and it proved to be a sign of things to come, as Grippo went straight from this match to winning the IBJJF No Gi Pan Championship for the fourth time in his career. It was such an impressive performance at Place of Peace Invitational 3 in fact, that Grippo has been invited back for the promotion’s next event as well. He will be taking on CJ Murdock at Place of Peace Invitational 4 alongside several other exciting matches featuring top competitors.
Subscribe to the official JitsMagazine YouTube channel for more Free Fight Friday footage, and the full match between Gianni Grippo and Craig McDonald can be found below: